在准备前特别检察官杰克·史密斯作证之际，参议院司法委员会的共和党工作人员向参议员埃里克·施密特发出警告：他们从司法部获得的短信——施密特声称这证明史密斯与佐治亚州检察官串通——是“未经审查的”，据一位直接了解谈话内容的消息人士透露。施密特仍然使用了这些短信。
As they prepared for the testimony of former special counsel Jack Smith, Republican staff on the Senate Judiciary Committee gave Sen. Eric Schmitt a warning: The texts they had obtained from the Justice Department — which Schmitt suggested was proof Smith had colluded with a Georgia state prosecutor — were “unvetted,” according to a source with direct knowledge of the conversation. Schmitt used the texts anyway.
随后发生的一幕国会闹剧几乎在开始后迅速瓦解。施密特坚称史密斯于2024年2月参加了一场亚特兰大老鹰队的篮球赛，暗示他可能以某种方式与富尔顿县地方检察官法尼·威利斯串通，但据一位熟悉委员会流程的消息人士和两位知情人士透露，司法部在史密斯听证会前与司法委员会的共和党工作人员分享了材料。参议院司法委员会主席查克·格拉斯利的团队整理了一份关于听证会关键信息的备忘录，据一位消息人士称。
What followed was a congressional spectacle that unraveled almost as quickly as it began. Schmitt insisted Smith attended an Atlanta Hawks basketball game in February 2024, suggesting he may have conspired in some way with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, only to According to a source familiar with the committee process and two sources familiar with the matter, the Department of Justice shared materials with GOP staff on the Judiciary Committee ahead of Smith’s hearing. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley’s team assembled a memo about key information for the hearing, according to one source.
但格拉斯利的工作人员并未将这些短信纳入备忘录，该消息人士补充道。
But Grassley’s staff did not include the texts in the memo, that source added.
据一位民主党助手和另一位由委员会工作人员简报过的消息人士称，格拉斯利在听证会前也未与民主党参议员分享这些短信。据其中一位人士说，这一遗漏加深了民主党人的怀疑，即国会共和党人和特朗普政府正合谋破坏或陷害史密斯。
Grassley also did not share the texts with Democratic senators before the hearing, according to a Democratic staffer and another source briefed by committee staff. That omission deepened Democratic suspicion that congressional Republicans and the Trump administration were working together to undermine or trap Smith, one of the people said.
据一位直接了解情况的消息人士透露，施密特找到共和党工作人员，要求提供显示史密斯调查——该调查探究特朗普及其盟友如何通过虚假欺诈指控推翻2020年大选——与威利斯调查——该调查探究特朗普是否试图操纵佐治亚州选举结果——之间存在关联的材料。该消息人士称，这种在国会听证会前就潜在材料的来回协商是常见做法。
Schmitt came to the Republican staff asking for material showing a connection between Smith’s investigation — which probed efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election through bogus claims of fraud — and Willis’ probe into whether Trump sought to manipulate the Georgia election results, according to a source with direct knowledge. The source said such back-and-forths over potential material is common practice ahead of congressional hearings.
消息人士称，在施密特团队表达兴趣后，他们获得了这些短信的访问权限。
After Schmitt’s team expressed interest, they received access to the texts, the source said.
然而，消息人士称，司法委员会工作人员明确警告施密特团队，这些短信未经审查，核实信息是他们的责任。施密特办公室和司法部均未立即回应MS NOW的置评请求。
Judiciary staff, however, explicitly warned Schmitt’s team that the texts were unvetted and that it was their responsibility to verify the information, the source said. Neither Schmitt’s office nor the Justice Department immediately responded to MS NOW’s request for comment.
司法部移交有限的非敏感记录以配合国会调查并不罕见。但特朗普任命的官员采取了一种高度不寻常的做法，分享大量敏感材料——本案中来自特别检察官的调查材料——因为共和党人正在翻阅档案，寻找史密斯及其团队存在不当行为的证据。
It is not unusual for the Justice Department to turn over a limited set of nonsensitive records in a case or program that is the subject of a congressional investigation. But Trump appointees have engaged in a highly unusual practice of sharing a broad swath of sensitive material, in this case from the special counsel’s investigation, as Republicans scour files for evidence that Smith and his staff engaged in misconduct.
迄今为止，这些努力产生了大量指控和阴谋论，但没有任何不当行为的具体例子。
So far, those efforts have yielded plenty of allegations and conspiracy theories but no concrete examples of wrongdoing.
在之前对史密斯的质询中，共和党成员利用史密斯办公室关于传票的内部通讯，指控史密斯在调查特朗普试图干预2020年总统大选时对共和党国会议员进行“窃听”。但记录并不支持这些指控。
In a previous questioning of Smith, Republican members deployed internal communications from Smith’s office about subpoenas to accuse Smith of “wiretapping” GOP members of Congress as he investigated Trump’s attempt to interfere in the 2020 presidential election. But the records did not back those accusations.
相反，记录显示史密斯办公室采取了常规调查步骤，收集电话通话的时间和日期，但不包括通话内容。
Instead, they showed Smith’s office taking the routine investigative step of gathering the time and date of phone calls, but not the content of those calls.
史密斯解释说，他正在寻找额外证据，证明共和党议员在1月6日国会山骚乱期间曾与特朗普及其核心助手通话。
Smith explained he was seeking additional proof that GOP lawmakers had talked with Trump and key lieutenants during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
史密斯表示，他已掌握证据，显示特朗普及其团队曾致电议员，“利用”国会山的暴力事件，阻挠对乔·拜登大选胜利的认证。
Smith said he already had evidence that Trump and his team had called lawmakers “to exploit the violence” at the Capitol and block the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the election.
周二的听证会暴露出一个更基本的问题：施密特暗示史密斯和威利斯曾就各自针对特朗普的案件秘密会面，这一指控源于一个荒诞的误会。（史密斯否认曾与威利斯会面。）当施密特坚称他有短信证明史密斯于2024年2月3日在亚特兰大观看了老鹰队比赛时，史密斯看起来一脸茫然。他表示，除了可能曾在机场等待转机外，他对自己曾在亚特兰大毫无印象。“我肯定没去看过老鹰队比赛，”他说，“我对此很确定。”
Tuesday’s hearing presented a more basic problem: Schmitt’s implication that Smith and Willis secretly met on their respective cases against Trump was based on a comical mix-up. (Smith has denied ever meeting with Willis.) As Schmitt insisted he had texts proving Smith had attended the Hawks game in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024, Smith looked confused. He said he had no recollection of being in Atlanta, other than possibly in the airport at some point awaiting a flight connection. “I definitely did not go to a Hawks game,” he said. “I’m sure of that.”
这让施密特露出微笑并宣称：“我认为你已经犯了伪证罪。”几分钟后，史密斯回忆起他在施密特描述的时间前后确实看过一场女子大学篮球赛——但那是在马里兰州进行的爱荷华鹰眼队对阵马里兰大学的女子篮球赛。
This prompted Schmitt to smile and declare: “I think you’ve already perjured yourself.”Minutes later, Smith recalled that he had attended a women’s college basketball game around the time Schmitt was describing — but it was a women’s basketball game in Maryland: the Iowa Hawkeyes against the University of Maryland.
一个快速的谷歌搜索显示，马里兰州的鹰眼队比赛和亚特兰大的老鹰队比赛都是在同一天，即2024年2月3日进行的。这个日期对这位参议员具有重要意义。
A quick Google search showed the Hawkeyes game in Maryland and the Hawks game in Atlanta were played on the same date, Feb. 3, 2024. The date had significance to the senator.
施密特明确表示他在试图抓住史密斯撒谎，但他似乎还有另一个目的。他看起来认为自己找到了一个确凿证据，能够证实一个长期流传的理论——该理论在极右翼媒体中很流行——即史密斯正在秘密协调佐治亚州对特朗普的州级起诉。
Schmitt made it clear he was trying to catch Smith in a lie, but he appeared to have another goal as well. He seemed to believe he had found a smoking gun for a long-running theory — popular in far-right media — that Smith was secretly coordinating with the Georgia state prosecution of Trump.
证明史密斯在亚特兰大将有力支持这一理论。亚特兰大老鹰队比赛的前一天，威利斯在法庭文件中承认她与该案一名检察官有私人关系——这一披露最终导致她被撤职。暗示显而易见：史密斯去亚特兰大是为了帮忙收拾烂摊子。
Placing Smith in Atlanta would have bolstered that theory. The Hawks game in Atlanta was the day after Willis acknowledged in court filings that she had a personal relationship with one of the prosecutors on the case — a revelation that ultimately led to her removal. The apparent implication was that Smith was down in Atlanta trying to help clean up the mess.
如果施密特或其工作人员做过基本的核实，他们就会发现史密斯所坐的座位在马里兰州的学院公园，而非亚特兰大。工作人员短信中提到的那个具体座位号，在老鹰队的州立农业球馆根本不存在。
Had Schmitt or his staff done some basic checking, they would have found that the seat Smith was sitting in was in College Park, Maryland, not Atlanta. The particular seat number — mentioned in the staff texts — did not even exist in the Hawks’ State Farm Arena.
但他们没有核实信息，而一场本应揭露史密斯涉嫌不当行为的听证会，却让施密特因草率下结论而显得愚蠢。
But they did not verify the information, and a hearing that was supposed to catch Smith in alleged misconduct left Schmitt looking foolish for leaping to conclusions.
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